2-7-11 #22
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been pretty hectic and I have a million things to tell you all about, but I'll limit this to some key prominent events. First off...Transfers! So after being in East New York, Brooklyn for 2 transfers (3 months nearly), I've finally left my birthplace. After lugging all my luggage ( I guess that's where the verb comes from) through snow/rain and the freezing cold onto numerous trains, up countless stairs and next to the freeway and through lots of puddles, I finally got to the mission office all in one piece (well mostly, I think that experience scarred me for life and now I will forever more appreciate the wonderful convenience of an automobile, especially during winter! Trains and busses can be quaint, but NOT for moving all your belongings that have to last you for 2 years!) Well the past is in the past. Now I'm in.... Far Rockaway! It's a little peninsula on the southern tip of Queens, bordering the JFK airport. My companion is Elder Simpkins from Thatcher, AZ (all my comps are from sunshine states: TX, AZ, CA! the exact opposite of rainy Oregon). He has only been out 2 transfers longer than me, so we're both pretty green, but he's really great and I've been extremely impressed at not only his Spanish, but his basic skills as a missionary, his love for the people, and strong desire to be obedient. Missions are great if only for the fact that you get to know such a wide variety of people and see how many amazing ones are out there! We work our district with only one other companionship: the DL Elder Stewart and his comp Elder Scott. All 4 of us are really young, under a year, but I kinda like it. We all are Spanish missionaries, but we teach Spanish and English in our pools. The branch here is pretty small. They meet on the 4th floor of some business building right above the AIDS clinic. The members are 70% Hispanic(quite a mix of every country: Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, DR and of course, Honduras etc..). The leaders are all Spanish speaking except the Elders Quorum President and of course the Sr. couple, Elder and Sis. Hunt from Draper, UT. Sacrament meeting switches off every week between English and Spanish and the Elders and a nice Sister from the ward have to translate. Everyone that doesn't speak the language the meeting is in that day, have to wear headphones. During meetings with missionaries and ward leaders we have to translate for the 3 non Spanish speakers. Luckily most of the branch leaders speak English to some extent or another, but they prefer Spanish so it always makes things interesting. Translating is extremely hard, I was only asked to do it for like 15 mins for a short meeting, and I think it's going to take a lot of practice to figure out the balance between listening, and repeating, saying literally or trying to just get the gist of it and saying that. I'm excited to learn though and I think it will help my Spanish a lot!
Already it has been tons of fun getting to teach in English and Spanish, the cultures are soooo different. It's fun being new since I never know what to expect when we go visit someone=) Another odd quirk to this specific area is that all the missionaries are only elders that speak Spanish and English. I guess this area is supposed to be as ghetto as you can get out on the "island" so it's fun seeing people's reactions that the only places I've been are E New York and Far Rockaway.
We have a car!! But we share it and only get it every other day. It’s amazing how much more we can get done with a car! We teach seriously twice as many lessons because we can just get to appointments ‘like that’ (imagine me snapping my fingers). I'm coming to love this area so much, even though I haven't even been here a week, I've been very warmly welcomed in, and the people are just amazing! Very diverse (we taught this Haitian family where they mostly speak Creole their native language, and French which is what their school language was, and in school they learned Spanish and being here for a year learning English so we would teach trying to use our knowledge of Spanish/English and whatever French words could be similar, languages are so fascinating I'm lucky to be somewhere that I'm exposed to soooo many! As for investigators, I'm loving not being blinded in!!! We have tons of great investigators, I don't know where these people come from, but I wish I'd found people like them in E New York. Already we have 3 baptismal commitments:, one with a girl whose sisters and mother got baptized a couple of months ago, but her dad is very antagonistic to the church and she was really struggling getting an answer. It was one of the coolest moments of my life seeing her conversion and change of heart and the effects of the Spirit on her, in just the 6 days I've been here! We also got 4 investigators to come to church!! Who knew that missionary work could actually have this many great---no ‘spectacular’, days. I'm waiting to wake up or something, it's too good to be true!
Also the weather has actually been really good. We’ve had a couple of days of cold and freezing rain/snow and lots of fog (it's like being in Oregon again!). We live right on the beach. We watch the sunrise from the ocean every morning while we are getting ready in the morning, and it's amazing!
On Friday I had one of the highlights of my mission. We had a mission conference where Elder Kevin Pearson of the 70 came, and I learned sooooo much! I thought I'd just use one of the few little blank pages in the back of my planner. I filled 3 and I was writing as tiny as possible. Already I've recopied my notes into my study journal so I don't forget anything. I don't have time to go over what he talked about, just a few quick things (I always say that, and then end up talking forever!). Mainly we learned how we need to change our identity. He talked a lot about his personal experiences as a missionary in Finland, and we realized how if we want to truly fulfill our purpose we need to forget "Logan the BYU student", and be the missionary, a representative of Christ, that he wants us to be. We need to be Disciples of Christ (which was the subject of Sunday school in church!). We talked a lot about repentance, humility, forgiveness, all these things that we really needed to hear. He hit on the power of prayer, and as a companionship we have changed the way/intent/frequentness of our prayers and we have already seen results. These men are inspired, truly called of God! He also talked about helping people come unto Christ, persevering, and how to treat/react to different people on different parts of their path back to their Heavenly Father. It really made me mindful of EVERYTHING I do, and made me mindful of making sure that if it's someone's first encounter with Christ's church, it's going to help them progress, not detract, from their conversion. He said "Conversion is always taking place, in everyone!" (emphasis added). I just loved that idea that everyone accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ before they came here, they know it, we are just reminding them, just like it says in Preach My Gospel.
Well my time technically isn't up since...I'm not in an internet cafe!!! We're in a library and it's free and we can do it as long as we'd like, but there are things to do, so I'll end with my testimony. Today I had the opportunity to write a letter to the Priest/Laurels back in my home ward. I thought a lot about what I would say, how I could help them prepare, what I wish I would have known, and mainly I summed it up with: 1.Being a missionary even if I wasn't set apart, and 2. strengthening my own testimony first if I want to share it with others. On my mission my testimony has become so much stronger. Before, I knew this church was true, I had felt the spirit confirm that to me multiple times, but had I truly been converted? I tried to live righteously, but was I living up to my potential, doing my best? Granted no one is ever going to be perfect, only Christ was and that's what makes His infinite atoning sacrifice so amazing, but I can always improve... a lot! Here I've seen how I was before, the way I acted, where my priorities were, where my heart truly was. I'm thankful for where I've been, because that helps me appreciate so much more what I am now (just like with having heating, hot water and a car!), but that thankfulness doesn't end there. It has spread into a desire to push through the temptations, the difficulties, the preoccupations of this life. I want to truly live as a disciple of Christ and make myself worthy to belong to his church. Now I know that I can do that, I've seen my progression and I KNOW. I know this church is Christ's church on the Earth and that he leads and guides it through his chosen prophets. I know that if I want to enjoy all the happiness and blessings in this life that God wants to give me, then it's me that has to change, not Him. When I pray at night, I don't tell him that he needs to give me this or that, or bless this investigator or that less active member, no. I pleadingly beg that I can change to know how to help them, to live my life worthily to always have the spirit with me, well at least more than just the few times when I bear witness of Christ's work on the Earth. I'm entitled to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, so that is what I need to work on to have. I know he loves me and knows me personally, individually, and more fully than anyone else. I know he has a work for me to do here in New York, that there are people that he has prepared for me to teach. I'm thankful for this opportunity to be an instrument in his hands and I'm so grateful that I've been blessed to get this far. I love each and every one of you, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and all your support, spiritual or physical. I hope my being here on a mission can also help all of you to want to continue being missionaries in your respective places and that you will do your part to move the work along. The Lord has called us, we only need to respond to his call and act! I know these things are true, and I bear witness to their truthfulness in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Logan Lewis
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